Aiding Terrorism is a Federal Monopoly (Will Grigg) About a year ago, Nicholas Teausant, a 20-year-old college student from Acampo, California, made some ill-advised comments on social networking sites. In one post he expressed an interest in going to Syria to fight on behalf of an al-Qaeda offshoot called the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, which is part of the U.S.-funded insurgency seeking to overthrow the government of Bashar al-Assad.

In short order, Teausant's comments attracted the attention of a self-identified Jihadist who, predictably, was a paid informant for the FBI. Teausant's new friend offered to introduce him to a “mentor,” who was also a member of the FBI's Homeland Security Theater Guild. This affair followed a familiar script in which the Feds carefully led this socially isolated young man step by step until he had agreed to take part in a supposed plot to bomb the Los Angeles subway system. In early March, he was arrested near the Canadian border.

Because of his expressed intention to aid the Syrian al-Qaeda group, Teausant faces a 15-year prison term and a $250,000 fine. Federal policymakers – including President Obama and congressional leaders – continue to offer actual material support for that terrorist group without fear of prosecution.